Personal Account of a Drunk Driver

On the night of January 27, 1993, I was arrested for the second time for drunk driving. It all happened so fast. I could see red lights flashing in my rear view mirror, and I knew I was going to jail. I had been in West Hollywood that night, having dinner and drinking with my friends, and I must have had one of my blackouts during the course of the evening. I could only remember bits and pieces of the evening's events. As the officer approached my driver's side window and leaned over to tell me that I had run through four red lights, I thought to myself--I could have killed myself or someone else. My God, I am lucky, even though I'm getting arrested, I'm lucky.

The horror story of the night evolved into a stay at Sybil Brand, a women's correctional facility which houses 8,000 women. The presiding judge at Burbank Municipal requested that I put in time there. I encountered prostitutes, murderers, gang members, thieves, drug dealers, and child molesters. My jail peers and the Sheriff's deputies made me feel like I was the slime of the earth. I was beaten and approached for sexual favors.

I watched women try to kick their habits, sometimes wallowing in their own waste in the corners of their cells. I spoke with a woman who was 75 years old who had been on heroin since she was 22 years old. Because I refused to take the alcohol test when I was arrested that night in January, my driver's license has been suspended for two years, and I either take

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.19 million people injured each year, including 43,140 people with permanent partial disabilities and 4,092 with permanent total disabilities (Journal of the American Medical Association 303). Those you try to prevent from driving may become a little belligerent and say they are absolutely clear-headed. Expect this, and don't let their twisted logic or the volume of their voices sway you from your personal decision to prevent people that you know, especially yourself, from driving when drunk. As they go through all the reasons why it's absolutely OK for them to drive after only having a few, envision yourself simply smiling sweetly and pretending that they are speaking to you in a language that you do not know. Then calmly and deliberately go about your business of arranging other transportation. In your minds eye, see yourself doing this in spite of pressures not to do so. The simple steps of taking a designated driver with you if you drink and not allowing guests who drink to drive will go a long way in preventing the destruction of drunk driving. These simple solutions are doable by anyone who is in this room today. If you intend to drink, take along a designated driver who will not drink at all. If you have guests in y

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